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Tip 1: The Early Years of Entrepreneurship: A Step-by-Step Approach to Surviving and Thrivingby Caron_Beesley, Community ModeratorEntrepreneur and founder of The Body Shop Anita Roddick once said: ―Nobody talks about entrepreneurship as survival, but that's exactly what it is and what nurtures creative thinking.‖The first few years of small business ownership are undoubtedly the toughest, a huge test of entrepreneurial character. And data proves that getting it right is as challenging as ever. According to the SBA Office of Advocacy (PDF), the survival rate for new employer firms stacks up asfollows:∙Seven out of 10 new employer firms survive at least two years∙Half survive at least five years∙ A third last 10 years∙ A quarter stay in business for 15 years or moreSo, what strategies and tactics can you employ as you venture through the early years of business ownership? Below are some year-by-year approaches to consider:Year 1 – Be Prepared for the UnexpectedWhatever your field of business, one of the first things you’ll probably encounter in your first year is that things rarely go as planned. While you can do a lot to set up your business carefully (like these 10 Steps to Starting a Business), be prepared for the unexpected.You may find you need to diversify your product line or that your true niche is something else. Maybe demand for your product goes through the roof and you can’t cope or you find your suppliers aren’t as reliable as you’d hoped.Predicting shifts in market forces and business strategy isn’t easy, but you can p repare by having a plan and sufficient cash reserves to allow adjustments to your year one strategy. Many of us put off writing a business plan until we need to secure financing. However, a well-prepared plan that is revisited often will help you steer your business on its course, and help you navigate bumps in the road. Try to think of your business plan as a living, breathing project, not a one-time term paper.SBA guest blogger and planning expert Tim Berry calls this the ―plan-as-you-go‖ approach and he offers advice in these two blogs: 10 Quick and Easy ways to Start Planning Better and 4 Steps to Keep Your Business Planning Simple and UsefulPart of your planning strategy should focus on maintaining cash flow and having reserves. The following tips from SCORE offer good advice for building a six month cash reserve:∙Add up all your monthly expenses, so you know what your true personal expenses are.∙Still in a day job? Set aside five percent of your net pay each paycheck and build savings.∙Sound like too much? Start with a goal of setting aside $100 week equals $5,200 a year, a nice cushion.∙As an entrepreneur, you want to be sure that whenever you take a cash draw from the company, you set aside money to pay taxes. Don't be surprised by a nasty tax bill.∙Start now. The most important thing is to create a habit of saving each week.Year 2 – Reflect On and Advocate Your BusinessAt the end of year one, reflect back on your first year in business – your successes, failures and shortcomings. What would you have done differently? For tips on how to take stock of your business performance, read Taking Stock of the Business Year - How to Conduct a Year-End Review & Plan for the Year Ahead.Year two is also the time to work ON your business, as opposed to working IN it. Becoming a fulfilled and successful business owner involves positioning yourself as a true advocate for your business, not just a salesperson. Some of the most successful brands in the world are where they are today because the entrepreneur behind the brand is out front advocating its products, its successes, and its core values – think Richard Branson or Steve Jobs.Becoming an advocate isn't difficult, but it involves relinquishing control of some day-to-day business operations that you have gotten used to as a startup. This blog offers more tips: Five Tips for Building your Small Business Brand Using its Best Advocate - You!Year 3 – Grow your FormulaYear three is often when small business owners really feel they’ve found a formula and a niche that works. Business fluctuations still happen, but by now you likely have a good view of your financial projections, so you can better prepare for market and seasonal fluctuations.If your niche is working for you, keep focused and stay true to it. Stay customer-centric, look for opportunities to grow in that niche, and refine your business and marketing strategy to stay ahead of the curve.Tip 2: Why Your Business Needs an Elevator Pitch (and Tips on How to Target it to your Audience)by Caron_Beesley, Community ModeratorWhether you are on a trade show floor, making a sales pitch, or seeking investment, perfecting your elevator pitch can be one of the most important things your business can do. From the moment you start-up (when no one has ever heard of you), having a well rehearsed and compelling elevator pitch can help buyers, clients and potential investors get to know you quickly.More than simply explaining your product, industry, or "big idea" a business elevator pitch is essentially how you speak about your business to others in a way that engages and excites. Asbusiness expert Chris O'Leary states, "...an effective elevator pitch is designed to give the audience just enough information that they will have a sense of what you are talking about and want to know more." (*)Adapt Your Elevator Pitch to Suit Specific AudiencesA savvy entrepreneur should be prepared to develop and modify their elevator pitch to meet the needs of the audience they are engaging. If, for example, you are pitching your product to a passerby at a tradeshow booth, you will need to craft quite a different pitch than the one you would deliver to a potential lending institution or investor who will quickly weed out ill-prepared and poorly planned business ideas or propositions based on an elevator pitch alone.Three Elements of an Effective Elevator PitchTo help prepare your elevator pitch (whether to secure investment for your business or to communicate your sales proposition) you need to take a three-step approach and address these key elements of your business:1. "What is the problem or "pain" in the marketplace that your business addresses?"A good way to address this element is to ask a question. For example:Did you know that the average small business wastes approximately $1,250 in energy costs each month simply because electronic assets are left to operate on maximum power 24 hours a day?2. "How does your business or its product solve this problem?"And, in this case, the (purely hypothetical) answer might be:With our patented energy usage monitoring system - ElecTrack - business owners can monitor energy consumption across all their electronic assets and remotely deactivate non-business critical equipment and applianceswhen not in use.3. If you are developing an elevator pitch to help communicate your sales proposition, you should ask yourself: "What is the main benefit you give?"For example:ElecTrack can help you save thousands of dollars a year on your business utility bills.Alternatively, if you are seeking investment in your business the third element should be - "What do you need to bring your solution to reality?"For example:We need $1.2 million in funding to get to the point where the company is self-sustaining. This should happen during the third quarter of our second year. For the purposes of start-up, we're seeking $500,000 of initial funding. I am the CEO with 12 years senior sales and business development experience in the energy efficiency sector. Our Technology Director has 20 years of electrical engineering and software development experience and has led the development and patenting of ElecTrack. If we hit our numbers, we expect to expand our market base into Europe and Asia, within three years.For specific help on creating your elevator pitch for investors, take a look at this You Tube *video clip from business planning expert Tim Berry. He provides tips on how to craft your pitch, what your goals should be, and perhaps most importantly, what your investors want to hear.Get Feedback and Practice Your PitchAnother element in the process is to get feedback on your pitch from fellow stakeholders, employees, or someone not as close to the business as you are. Modify your pitch based on this feedback, and then rehearse and familiarize yourself with it. This absolutely involves reading it out loud. As a goal, aim for delivering your pitch in 30-45 seconds, longer than that and you'll need to head back to the drawing board.You could also try writing key words or phrases from your elevator pitch on a prompt card that you can pull out before meetings to refresh your memory.Tip 3 : Five Ways to Find the Right Niche and Target Market for Your Small Business by Caron_Beesley, Community ModeratorOne of the first steps in the business planning process is determining who your target market is and why they would want to buy from you.It sounds simple, but do you really know what you are selling and to whom? Is the market you serve the best one for your product or service? Are the benefits of dealing with your business clear and are they aligned with those or your target customers?If you aren’t sure about the answers to any of these questions t hen you need to step back and revisit the foundation of your business plan.The following tips can help you be clear about what your business has to offer, identify the right target market for it and build a niche for yourself there.Be Clear about What you Have to OfferSounds obvious, but more than just a product or service, what are you really selling? Think about it. Your town probably has several restaurants all selling one fundamental product—food. But I’ll bet one sells drive-thru fast food, perhaps another sells pizza in a rustic Italian kitchen, and maybethere’s also a fine dining seafood restaurant that specializes in wood-grilled fare. All these restaurants sell meals, but they sell them to targeted clientele that is looking for the unique benefits each has to offer. What they are really selling is a combination of product, value, ambience (or not), and brand experience.So, if you are starting a business, be sure you understand why anyone would buy from you. What needs does it fulfill? What benefits and differentiators will you bring to the table that will help you stand out from the crowd? This article offers tips on how you can develop and capitalize on these elements of value: Six Tips for Creating a Customer Experience that Embodies Your Unique Business ValueDon’t Become a Jack of All Trades, use Strategy to FocusOne of the pitfalls of not defining what you have to offer is that you can quickly become a jack of all trades and master of none and this can have a negative impact on business growth.Think about it from the perspective of a consumer. How often do you see marketing flyers promoting the service of a local handy man who claims to be an expert in everything from drywall installation to plumbing repairs, and so on? Now, this handyman may get some business out of his efforts, but he’d win a lot more if he specialized in doing one or two things well, building a reputation for himself, and fine tuning his marketing message. This is why you need a strategy: it will focus you.Identify Your NicheThe flip side of being a jack of all trades is finding your niche and playing to your strengths within that niche. Creating a niche for your business is essential to success. For example, say you want to quit your day job and become a freelance writer. You know there’s a need in the market for a trustworthy, reliable, and consistently good technical writer – and clients are willing to pay a certain price point for that quality and value.Now you could simply advertise your services on an online freelance marketplace, as many do, and hope to pick up any business from any customer anywhere on the map. But by identifying your niche and choosing to attract customers who will value your services, you will quickly build on that niche and be on the path towards business success.Finding Your Target CustomerIdentifying and finding your ideal target customer is a process few businesses can afford to get wrong. A few simple steps can help get you along the way and are covered here in this SBA guide: Identifying Your Target Market.Tailor your Business Message to Your MarketNow that you’ve identified your target market you’ll need to craft a message that reaches and speaks to that market while reinforcing your brand identity. It should explain what you have to offer, why you’re different, and why anyon e should buy from you.Tip 4 : Six Tips for Creating a Customer Experience that Embodies your Unique Business Valueby Caron_Beesley, Community ModeratorWritten by Caron BeesleyDespite the fact that we live in a budget-conscious, coupon-clipping, recession-bruised culture, customer experience still counts for a lot. A good customer experience resonates with our challenges and needs, makes us feel warm and fuzzy, and ultimately, it generates repeat customers.For example, I’m a dog owner and I want th e best for my dogs. The best food, treats, toys, and so on. I’m also practical and budget conscious.So when it comes to purchasing products for my dogs, I have two options. I can either make a visit to the numerous national chain pet stores in my community, or I can make a stop at my local independent whole food pet store.Nine times out of 10, I visit the independent store. Why?It is not the cheapest option and is located in a part of town that I have no other reason to visit, however, they provide me with a customer experience that is second to none. The staff remembers me, they go out of their way to be helpful, and most importantly, they have gained my trust.Small businesses are in a unique position to create valuable customer experiences. Their products and services are often niche, the target customer is very defined, and business operations are agile and unconstrained by corporate rules and processes. When was the last time you called a small business and got put through to an automated call center?These seemingly small things come together to create a hugely competitive value proposition.Here are some things you can do to focus your sales, marketing and operational efforts to create a unique customer experience and capitalize on the catalog of value that your small business embodies.1. Understand your DifferentiatorsKey to delivering a unique and memorable customer experience is understanding what differentiates you from your competition, and framing your future marketing around thesedifferentiators. These ―5 Tips for Getting to Know Your Competition and using it to Your Advantage‖ offers pointers o n competitive research.Talk to your employees – what are they hearing from customers about why they do business with you? Don’t be afraid to solicit feedback from your customers too. What about your business partners?2. Nurture your ValuesWhat are your core values and how are you carrying these through your business operations and customer experience? This is an important one because your values steer how you do business and what your customers can come to expect of you. Whether you are a freelancer who is driven by a consistent commitment to excellence, or a restaurateur who believes every employee should participate in the success of the business, don’t underestimate the role that your values play in your customer’s experience.3. Develop “Your” Brand a s Business OwnerYour brand is so much more than your logo, signage, and font choices. Your brand is embodied by your products, services, marketing, and a body of brand advocates including you, your team and your happy customers. Don’t ignore all these ele ments that come into play to create your customer experience.These insights can help: ―Five Tips for Building your Small Business Brand Using its Best Advocate – You!‖4. Educate your StaffWhatever you sell, educate every single member of staff on its features and benefits. Also train them on how to identify what a customer is looking for or needs with some basic qualification question cheat sheets. Every single time anyone in your business communicates with a prospect or customer, it counts.5. Motivate your StaffTo ensure your team are as equally invested and publicly passionate about your business as you are, go one step further than equipping them with basic training. Consider setting employee goals that focus performance around your key business objectives and values. For example, if your goal is prove the continued agility of your business, set goals that focus individuals and teams on providing service that is ―one-step-ahead‖ of the customer’s expectations such as delivering a service sooner than anticipated (who doesn’t love it when a job gets completed ahead of sc hedule).You might also consider some basic employee incentive programs to encourage a collective participation in the success of your business. For tips read Get More from Your Team - 5 Employee Incentive Program Ideas that Pay Off.6. Tell the World!While your existing customers know how great you are, don’t forget to craft a marketing message that tells potential customers about your company, what it does, and why they should do business with you. More than just an ―About Us‖ statement, your marketing message should be about your customers and the experience they can expect when they do business with you.Read 7 Tips for Creating a Marketing Message that Sticks for help in developinga marketing message that grabs the attention of your customers, speaks to them, and promotes action.How do you create a positive customer experience? Share your thoughts below.Tip 5 : Five Tips for Getting to Know Your Competition and using it to Your Advantageby Caron_Beesley, Community ModeratorCreated: August 19, 2010, 7:41 amUpdated: January 31, 2011, 4:15 pmThere are many reasons why a business needs to keep an eye on the competition. From pricing your products competitively, to gauging how similar businesses are reacting to market forces, to understanding where you stand in the highly competitive space of online search rankings.But how do you effectively sneak a peek at the competition, or even snuggle up to it? Here are five tips for researching and getting to know your competition.1. Use the Web to Your AdvantageThe easiest way to check out the competition, as well as what custome;s think of them, is to go online.A surefire way of doing this is to conduct a search on popular local online business listings such as *Yahoo Local, *Google Maps, and *Yelp. Enter keywords about your business together with the zip code of the area you serve, e.g.-landscape services, 22182Focus on the top 10 businesses from each search engine result and start your competitive research by checking out their Web sites for information on products, pricing, service areas, etc. Assess how your offerings stack up' what do you offer that is unique, and how can you work that into your marketing plan to set you apart from the competition?2. Gauge Customer OpinionGoing back to your search engine results, take a look at the customer reviews posted against your competito's business listing. This information can provide valuable insight into why a customer chooses one business over another (even yours).In addition to standard Web search tools, industry-specific sites such as *ServiceMagic, *Angi's List,*, and *OpenTable, among others, can help you narrow down your opinion-based research.3. Get to Know Your CompetitionI's very rare that any two businesses are exactly the same, which makes it a good idea to get to know, and even network with, your competition' in person.The rewards can include referrals (if you offer something that they do't, or they are simply unable to take on additional customers for whatever reason' very common in the freelance/consulting world), as well as potential joint business opportunities. Sometimes going after the same clients can prove more fruitful if you tag team with or outsource to a sub-contractor or partner who can round out your offering.It's best to meet and get to know your competition on neutral turf. Associations, chambers of commerce, and other local business networking groups are a great place to do this.4. Don't Get Hung Up on PriceWhile you do want to make sure that your pricing is in line with the market, don't run the risk of selling your offerings short by focusing on price as your main differentiator 'you'll never win and you'll end up destroying all your margins in an effort to stay ahead. Instead focus on value' and selling that value effectively. This often comes down to customer service, read 'Get the Customer Service Edge' from small business professional, Rieva Lesonsky, for tips on competing and winning business through great customer service.5. Keep it UpStaying on top of the competitive landscape is an ongoing effort; however, there are many online tools that can help you automate the process. Sign up for your competitor's newsletters and use *Google Alerts to track what's said about your competition on the Web.It's a good idea to monitor social media sites too. Follow your closest competitors on Twitter and Facebook, or if you wish to be more discreet, monitor them using tools such as *Hootsuite.Tip 6: Stand Out from the Crowd; Seven Tips for Creating a Marketing Message that Sticksby Caron_Beesley, Community Moderator∙Created: June 24, 2010, 7:53 am∙Updated: April 29, 2013, 10:05 amWhat is your business marketing message? What do you tell your customers about your company, what it does, and why they should do business with you?The fact is that many small businesses are confused about what their marketing message is and how they should communicate it to the outside world.You only need to look at the home page headlines or-About U- sections of many business web sites and you'll see countless instances of mission statements and business profiles being mistaken for marketing messages, for example:'XYZ company has provided ABC products and services in the state of Florida since 198'or:'W've been in business since 1996 and it is our mission toWhile there is nothing inherently wrong with these messages, they tend to have one thing in common - they are all about the business and not about the most important asset to that business - its customers.Here are seven steps you can take to develop a marketing message that grabs the attention of your customers, speaks to them, and promotes action.1) Identify Your Target MarketKnowing your market is the first step to crafting a message that speaks to understanding your market's needs. Every business has a target market, even if you stumbled into that market by accident. So don't be afraid to define your business marketing message by the market you serve best and most profitably. There is nothing more baffling to a consumer than a business who is trying to be all things to all people - it simply dilutes your message and undermines your core value.2) Describe your Product - Briefly!Many marketing messages become unstuck because they focus exclusively on product. Instead, your product should be considered only one piece of your overall message. For the purposes of a concise marketing message, consider the features of your product or service in the light of what they mean to the customer. For every feature there is a customer need met and a benefit realized.3) Identify Customer Pain Points, Issues, Needs and Wants and Determine How Your Business Addresses ThemTo move your prospects into action you need to step back and identify their problems, issues, needs, and wants, and ultimately define how your business addresses each of these.Each business and customer is unique, and while some customer pain points are obvious and easily aligned to your products and services, others aren't quite so obvious. For example, if you operate a seafood bar/restaurant in a suburban neighborhood - what problem or pain point are you addressing? Well no great pain really, but you can certainly weave a benefit statement around the fact that you are overcoming a geographical issue and meeting an emotional need.For example, our hypothetical restaurant may have chosen to position itself as providing a big-city dining experience in a suburban community. So the issue addressed and corresponding message here could be that no longer do customers need to travel miles or wait for their next business trip to experience the dining ambience that they enjoy so much in the big city - it's now available right on their doorstep.4) Build Your Proof PointsWhatever your product or service, it's vital that you demonstrate how your business has solved the problems of others. This part of your messaging development is about documenting proof points•.Testimonials and case studies are an excellent way of doing this, and they needn't be pages long - just a few quotes or paragraphs can help encapsulate the challenge your customer was facing, the solution you presented, and the results obtained. These proof points can act as stand-alone testimonials in your marketing collateral, but you should also step back and look at common themes that you can build into your wider marketing message.5) Define What Makes You DifferentNow that you have a sense of who your target market is, what their pain points are and how they have used your business services - you'll need to communicate what you do differently than your competition. Try to tie those differences to perceived value - i.e. why should your customer care about what you do or provide?6) What Should Your Message Look Like?Your basic marketing message (often called a messaging platform), while consistent, needs to be flexible. You want to be able to slice and dice it for various marketing collateral (brochures, email marketing, advertising, web site copy, etc.). A practical approach to developing your standard marketing message is to build a 150, 100, 75 and 50 word version of it.While the 50 word version is useful as a high-level elevator pitch message, the longer versions can be used to introduce more specific benefits, value statements, and proof points across your marketing communications.The point here is that although the final message will straddle all your outreach activities - you still have the flexibility to combine it with promotional statements, advertising call to actions, and so on.7) Deliver Your Message with One VoiceOnce developed, your marketing message needs to be delivered consistently and with one voice. From your sales team to your receptionist, from your web site to your brochures - the more times your prospects hear it, the more likely it is to register in their minds and they'll want to know more. So be sure to do a sweep of all your customer touch points and update your business voice accordingly.For more marketing tips, take a look at this Small Business Marketing Guide which includes information and resources about conducting market research, writing a marketing plan, developing an online marketing strategy, etc.。